Tim Kliphuis Trio: The Five Elements The Strad Issue: February 2021 Description: Jazz, folk, minimalism and Bach collide in the name of the environment Musicians: Tim Kliphuis Trio and Ensemble Works: The Five Elements; Threnody Catalogue number: LOWLAND RECORDS Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis’s lockdown musical project is an environment-themed one. First, The Five Elements, whose five movements with accompanying texts depict exactly that, the usual Tim Kliphuis Trio line-up expanded to include additional strings and wind instrumentalists plus pianist, who themselves have melded into the core threesome with complete naturalness. An effortless blending of folk, jazz, classical and minimalism, these pieces stylistically shift on the flip of a coin, with the various trio members rising organically up through the textures to take solo spots. Air opens especially strikingly: ethereal, suspended string chords, soon joined by guitar ones underpinned by bass, the harmonies hinting of jazz, on to which comes a huskily lilting Celtic-style melody from Kliphuis.